Pro-Palestinian students protest at Columbia University in New York City. Photo: Reuters/Jeenah Moon
A student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has been arrested for allegedly punching a Jewish student who was carrying an Israeli flag during a gathering held to call for the release of the over 240 people kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Israel on Oct. 7 and taken to Gaza.
After the alleged punch, the assailant snatched the Israeli flag held by the Jewish student and spat on it, according to details of the incident reported by the Massachusetts Daily Collegian, the campus newspaper for UMass-Amherst.
The incident occurred on Friday but first came to light over the weekend, when the school’s Hillel chapter released a “security message” detailing what happened.
“Toward the end of the event [which was sponsored by Hillel], a student approached the gathering and walked through the crowd, aggressively giving people the middle finger,” the statement read. “After the event had concluded and event security had left, the same student returned to the site of the event and punched a Jewish student holding an Israeli flag, then took the flag and spit on it.”
UMass staff witnessed the incident, according to the school’s Hillel, which noted that a police report was filed and that UMass police arrested the individual.
“We know this incident is disturbing to many of us, particularly during a time when tensions, emotion, and concern are heightened on our campus,” Hillel added. “But we must not let the most extreme voices and actions create undue fear or dominate the campus climate. It is vital that our campus community model civility, as the Jewish community did on Friday in publicly and peacefully showing solidarity with the 240 hostages.”
The perpetrator was later released on bail, “with conditions prohibiting them from returning to campus,” according to a statement put out on Monday by university officials, who said the student will be subject to the legal consequences of their actions.
“What this student is accused of is reprehensible, illegal, and unacceptable,” said UMass vice-chancellors Shelly Perdomo-Ahmed and Tyrone Parham. “Antisemitism, Islamophobia, or any form of bigotry have no place in our community, and we are committed to ensuring that our community’s engagement with opposing viewpoints is maintained in a respectful manner.”
US college campuses have seen a sharp surge in antisemitic incidents — including violence, harassment, and other forms of discrimination against Jewish students — since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, murdered 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took over 240 hostages back to the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
Last month, for example, an Israeli student at Columbia University was beaten with a stick by another student who had been ripping off flyers with names and photos of Israelis that Hamas had taken as hostages.
Two weeks later, a melee ensued at Tulane University in New Orleans in which an anti-Israel activist broke a Jewish student’s nose.
Intimidation and death threats have increased as well. At Harvard University, a mob — some clad in Palestinian keffiyeh scarves — jostled and harassed a Jewish student as he walked across the campus. Among the mob was Ibrahim Bharmal, the editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review — a publication whose past editors include former US President Barack Obama. At Cornell University, someone threatened on a social media forum to commit acts of murder, rape, and mass shooting against Jewish students and a kosher dining ball on campus. Patrick Dai, a 21-year-old engineering student at Cornell, was arrested on a federal complaint for allegedly making the threats. He faces up to five years in prison and $250,000 fine.
Responding to the latest outrage at UMass-Amherst, the New England office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said on Sunday that what happened is “an example of the disturbing reality for Jewish students on campus right now.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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